Search - Kevin Gordon :: Down to the Well

Anxious characters on a bruised landscape

Jerome Clark | Canby, Minnesota | 08/30/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a nearly perfect record, and it gets better each time you listen to it. Kevin Gordon expertly crafts a folk'n'roll sound -- folk music spirit and rock'n'roll rhythm -- to conjure up vivid pictures of anxious characters on a bruised American landscape. Unlike some Americana artists, Gordon's roots are a whole lot deeper than the most recent Steve Earle or Lucinda Williams CD -- the "down to the well" image in the album's title and opening cut, for example, is taken from a Lead Belly song -- and he has a balladeer's command of the storytelling art. Yet the band rocks expertly, drawing on blues and rockabilly influences without being overwhelmed by them. I suppose that at moments, especially on "Promise Road," which sounds more like intentional homage than accidental echo, Gordon does come across a tad unsettlingly like a Dixie-fried Bruce Springsteen. But (a) all things considered, there are worse failings, and (b) he's too much his own man to do that very often. Anyway, Springsteen would, I'm sure, be proud to have written "Jimmy Reed Is the King of Rock'n'Roll," a mostly acoustic folk blues and the most powerful song written about a blues musician in a long time, recalling, and matching, masterpieces like James Talley's "Bluesman" and Dylan's "Blind Willie McTell." And one can only marvel at Gordon's ability to write (with Gwil Owen) a train song, "Great Southern," that manages to avoid any of the genre's cliches. Down to the Well is as accomplished as any recording to come out of the Americana movement, and Gordon is as gifted as any artist in it. If, like me, you found Earle's and Williams's most recent CDs something of a letdown, Gordon's is a sure cure for that disappointment."

Aging like wine

Jerome Clark | 08/16/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Kevin Gordon gets better with each new release. No sophmore slump here. This is a mature, soulful, world weary second effort. Gordon's character's inhabit the America of all-nite joints, and muddy dirt roads, where "rain makes the stray dog shine". Its music for and about middle America. Not in the romanticized style of Springsteen; more in the plain, compassionate vein of John Prine. You sense Kevin's seen plenty of "Pencil lead gray afternoon's" in his travels.In "Burning The Church House Down", a character is informed by his mother that his "body is a temple, built by the Lord. Keep on drinking and you'll damned for sure." and all our boy can proclaim is, "Hey Mama, I'm burning the church house down!". Although the word-play is choice, the music has grown as well in Gordon's second go around. Joe McMahan and Bo Ramsey teamed up with Kevin to produce a thick juicy guitar laden gumbo of Americana. From Chuck Berry to Sun Records to Ry Cooder these boys borrow to create their own sound, deep in the groove. If you believe in rock and roll pure and unfiltered, then this disc is for you."

A searching heart

Sandra D. | Iowa City, IA USA | 09/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"you keep on walkin' up the "Promise Road"...you can't read the signs, there's no destinations, no arrival times, you can do what you want, you can do what you're told..." this body of work is truly a soul-seaching gem of a record. Kevin's songs are full of poetic mystery, gritty hopelessness, weeping guitars and electrifying blues, rock and rockabilly. loaded with great song-writing - amazing guitars -- it's been permanantly playing on my player for weeks...his best work yet."